Alonso To Real - Done.

But who's in through the Anfield door??

An undisclosed fee (around £30 million) has been agreed between the club and he has passed his medical, the signing of the contract remains a formality.

So with that deal done, plus the departure of Alvaro Arbeloa as well to Madrid, Mr Benitez now needs to look to the future and the players he will need if Liverpool are again to put up a substantial title challenge.

Last season can be deemed a real success by Liverpool in the league. Bar a few poor results against lesser opposition it could have been a different story.

A huge contributing factor this season was the formation and the slightly withdrawn use of his Rafa's rotation policy. A consistent team meant consistent results for Liverpool and they came to the brink of the title courtesy of consistency.

The 4-2-3-1 worked a treat. Mascherano protected the back four, Alonso took the equivalent role of an American quarter-back, Benayoun and Kuyt provided width with Gerrard and Torres producing the majority of the goals. It was all rosy.

I digress though.

There are a variety of options availble for Benitez. A lot of the press have touted a deal for Christian Poulsen from Juventus or Steven Defour from Standard Liege.

Let's not forget other players that could be avilable in that position such as Miguel Veloso and Joao Moutinho from Sporting Lisbon or Wesley Sneijder from Madrid. And that's just for midfield.

It is apparent that other areas need strengthening as well. Although Andriy Voronin has claimed he will fight for his place, is he really a credible threat to Premier League defences? David Villa has been a name thrown about a lot and it remains to be seen where the money from the Alonso transfer will go.

Villa and Torres, national team strike partners reunited at Liverpool - an interesting proposition to say the least...